Officer Hudson
by GleeThings
Summary: Rachel Berry is a girl who likes to live life on the wild side. When she meets police officer Finn Hudson, who she immediately has a crush on, what lengths will she go to to persuade him that she's his type? Will he be worth changing her party-girl life for? AU. (Story will hopefully be better than the summary).
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, I've almost finished my story Sometimes Love Needs Guidance and I need another story to work on when it's done. This is just an idea I had. I don't know if it's any good so please read and then let me know.**

* * *

"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTEEEEEEEEEED!" Rachel screamed loudly as she turned the volume of the music up to full. Everyone in the room cheered enthusiastically and held their cups into the air.

Rachel Berry was known for her parties. On the first Saturday of every month, Rachel would host a huge party and invite everyone in town. It was the event that everyone looked forward to as she threw the best parties. Rachel was in competition with herself to make each party better than the last; because of this, the parties just got better.

Tonight was no exception. The music was loud, alcohol was flowing, and all the guests were having a great time. Rachel grinned to herself at everyone having a good time. Entertaining was what Rachel did best, so seeing everyone having a good time because of her made her happy.

"Rachel," A mohawked boy who was by the drinks table shouted. "Get over here."

Rachel smiled and made her way over to him. A group of people congratulated her for another great party on the way. When she reached him, three other boys and a girl were gathered around the small table.

"We're doing shots." The boy said, handing her one. "Do one with us?"

Rachel nodded and accepted the shot of Vodka. On the count of three, they all brought their glasses to their lips and tipped their heads back. Rachel gulped the liquid down, squinting as it left a burning sensation in her throat. Fully used to the pain, she smiled after the feeling subsided.

"One more?" A blonde girl who was also at the party asked.

"Sure." Rachel grabbed the half empty bottle of Vodka and topped up everyone's glasses.

"Let's make a toast." One of the group stated. "To another incredible party, and to Rachel for planning it."

"Cheers!" Everyone said happily.

They all clinked their glasses and downed the bitter drink. Rachel slammed her empty glass down on the table and smiled.

"It's time to get me drunk." She said with a cheeky smile.

As the night rolled on, Rachel drank more and more alcohol. An hour later, it was fair to say she was relatively drunk and having a good time. As she used a shot glass as a microscope, her room-mate, Brittany Pierce, a sweet blonde girl who she met a few years ago, came rushing over to her.

"Rachel, I need your help." She said with urgency.

"What is it?" Rachel slurred as she stood up straight.

"Mrs Gregory's at the door again." Brittany told her.

No more needed to be said. Rachel sighed and stumbled her way to the door. Mrs Gregory was the old woman who lived in the apartment under Rachel and Brittany's. Whenever Rachel threw a party, Mrs Gregory had something to say about it. And it was always something bad.

When Rachel reached the door, she leant against the frame to stop the room from spinning in front of her. Surely enough, the woman, who was smaller than Rachel (if that was possible), was stood at the door. She had grey, permed hair and thick, over-sized glasses. She squinted when Rachel appeared with messy hair and alcohol on her breath.

"Mrs Gregory, what a pleasant surprise!" Rachel faked enthusiasm to see her neighbour.

"I wish I could say the same." The old woman replied, not hiding her disgust at Rachel.

"Who pee'd in your corn flakes?" Rachel asked, missing out the foul language from the well-known phrase for the sake of the elderly woman.

"It's that time of the month." The old woman replied, sadness in her tone. Rachel wrinkled her nose in disgust and frowned at the woman.

"You still have that? I'd have thought menopause would have hit you around twenty years ago."

The old woman at the door frowned at Rachel, shocked she thought that's what she meant. "Not that! The time you throw a party!"

"Oh," Rachel smiled in amusement at the mistake. "Sorry. Yeah, it's that time. Wanna join us?" Rachel stepped to the side of the door to allow the elderly woman to enter. However, the woman stayed where she was stood and scowled at Rachel.

"No I do not 'wanna join' you!" She said in frustration. "I want you to turn the music down!"

"Come on Mrs Gregory, that would ruin the fun!" Rachel prompted. This was a conversation she had with at least one of her neighbours every month. She could usually use her charming personality and attractiveness to stop their complaining. However, she already knew that this would certainly not work with Mrs Gregory.

The stubborn old woman seemed to find joy in making other people miserable. Especially Rachel, whom she had taken an instant disliking to the minute Rachel moved into the building. If shutting down this party would make Rachel unhappy, then shut down this party Mrs Gregory would do.

"You are currently ruining my sleep." Mrs Gregory informed her. "So could you turn the music down."

"I can't do that." Rachel said, almost apologetically, though it wasn't sincere. "Can you not just hang in there for another three hours?"

"Three hours?" Mrs Gregory asked in disbelief. "I am an old woman, I need sleep!"

"Then turn off your hearing aid!"

"I don't need this cheek from young hooligans like yourself." Mrs Gregory stated. "If you don't turn that music down in the next minute, I'm calling the police."

Rachel watched through narrowed eyes as the old woman hobbled away. Brittany, who had been standing behind Rachel and listening, moved to stand beside Rachel. "What are we going to do?" She asked worriedly.

"Relax." Rachel turned away from the door with her arms folded across her chest. "She's bluffing."

"Are you sure? She seems pretty serious this time." Brittany always panicked about the police getting involved since she was being fined for offences every other week.

"Am I ever wrong about this stuff?" Rachel asked rhetorically. "Come on, let's go get another drink. I think I'm sobering up a little with so much talking and not enough drinking.

* * *

A little while later, the party was still very much alive. Rachel flirted with a man who she didn't actually know, someone must have just brought him along as a plus one. She touched his one of his biceps and raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You must work out." She said with pleasant surprise.

The man smiled and nodded, impressed by Rachel's reaction to his toned body. However, before he could carry on the conversation, a man came over and tapped Rachel's shoulder. She turned around and frowned when she saw the man standing behind her.

"Brody, what are you doing here?" Rachel asked, folding her arms across her chest. "You weren't invited."

"You know me, never one to miss a party." The boy smirked.

Brody Weston was Rachel's ex-boyfriend. They had dated for a while months ago, before Rachel discovered that he was a male prostitute. Needless to say, the relationship didn't work out. Since the break up, Brody had tried to get back together with Rachel, but she wasn't interested. Rachel automatically assumed he was here to ask her out again, which explains her next words.

"I know why you're here, Brody, but the answer is no." She said firmly.

"Relax, Rach, that's really not why I'm here. I'm just here to have a good time." Brody assured her. "But me and some other guys want to do body shots, and I know for a fact you have a good body to do them from."

"Normally, I'd love to help out," Rachel said. "But I don't think you could handle doing a body shot off me, without wanting to get back together with me."

"Don't flatter yourself, Rach." Brody said, taking a step towards her.

Rachel looked up at him challengingly, but he didn't falter. She smiled slightly. "Fine." She said, smirking a little.

As they began walking to the table, Rachel grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Some boys nearby stared and wolf-whistled, giving Rachel more confidence.

When they reached the table, she hopped on and laid down. A boy put some salt on her stomach, another placed a shot glass between her breasts and made her squeeze together her cleavage to keep it an place, the last put a slice of lime in her mouth.

People around all cheered. "Shot. Shot. Shot. Shot." To prompt Brody to take the shot.

Brody licked the salt of Rachel's stomach, frowning at the bitterness; he moved up to her breasts, taking the shot glass and downing the liquid, causing his face to contort in disgust; he then moved to Rachel's mouth, taking the lime into his mouth and sucking the sour liquid from it. Brody spat the lime from his mouth and looked down at the beautiful girl in front of him. He leaned back down and kissed Rachel, causing everyone to cheer.

Rachel grabbed Brody's head and kissed him hard, adding tongue hungrily. This was a party, right? While the were still kissing, Brittany rushed over to Rachel and tapped her to get her attention.

"Rachel, I need your help again." Brittany said with urgency.

"Deal with it Brittany, I'm busy." Rachel brushed away, without looking away from Brody.

"It's the police." Brittany informed her.

Rachel looked up in surprise. Maybe Brittany couldn't handle this after all. Rachel pushed Brody off her and stood up, rushing to the door. She tried to go quickly but ended up stumbling as the room spun before her. She grabbed her top off the floor on the way and appeared at the door.

Rachel paused when she caught sight of the police officer in front of her. He was tall. Very tall. He had messy brown hair that Rachel could envision herself making a whole lot messier. His brown eyes looked at her, filled with kindness, despite the fact he was trying to be serious. Even with his uniform on, Rachel could tell he was fit and muscular. He was one of the most attractive men Rachel had ever seen. So she pulled on her top quickly and smiled at him.

"Hello, Officer, can I help you with anything?" She asked, flirtatiously leaning on her door frame.

"That depends," The Officer said, his voice deep and dreamy. "Are you Rachel Berry?"

"I am." Rachel said, smiling at the cute man. "And you are?"

"The man that's about to shut down this party." The policeman answered cockily.

Rachel raised her eyebrows, surprised by his bluntness. "Woah, woah, wait a minute," Rachel squinted and leaned forward, looking at the man's name tag. "Officer Hudson, why would you do that?"

"The station has had numerous complaints about the volume of this music." The man answered.

"Is this about Mrs. Gregory?" Rachel asked in an annoyed tone. "Listen, she hates me, the music really isn't that loud."

The policeman frowned at what Rachel said. He tugged up the corner of his mouth into a smirk. Even his smirk was cute. "You do realise that I can hear the music, right?"

Rachel smiled at him and laughed slightly. "Look, can't we just keep this party going? A lot of people would be disappointed if they had to leave now."

"That would be a shame, wouldn't it?" Officer Hudson said with fake sympathy. "Too bad. This party has to end."

"Well," Rachel stopped his by touching his arm flirtatiously, smiling when she realised how strong it felt. "How about we come up with some sort of... agreement?" She said suggestively.

"Are you flirting with me?" Officer Hudson asked in disbelief.

"That depends, do you _want _me to be flirting with you?"

"No." The he shook his head, though Rachel noticed he didn't seem so sure. "I want you to shut the party down."

Officer Hudson tried to walk past Rachel and get into the party room, but Rachel stopped him. "Please don't do this." She begged.

He stopped and looked down at her. "I'll give you two options. Either _you _can go in there, turn off the music and tell everyone to leave; or I will."

* * *

Rachel stood, arms folded firmly across her chest, outside the door of her apartment while all her guests were forced to leave. Officer Hudson was in there, making sure everyone left. She had never actually had a party shut down before, she always got out of it somehow. But this policeman was determined and he made sure it ended before he left. However, strangely enough, Rachel wasn't as annoyed as she expected to be; she was more endeared by his confidence and determination.

As Rachel was smiling apologetically at each guest that left her apartment, she found herself smiling apologetically at Officer Hudson as he exited with the stream of people. He stood next to her, folding his arms across his chest in a dominant way.

"You didn't have to do this." Rachel told him, without looking at him. She was worried that if she looked at him then she would get too lost in his dreamy looks to give him a hard time.

"Actually, I did." He replied, looking down at her. "Your neighbours were complaining."

"You still didn't have to." Rachel said quietly.

"You know, if the landlord gets a lot of complaints about you, he can kick you out." The officer informed her as he watched the guests leave.

Rachel sighed and decided not to argue back. She leant against the wall and looked up at the Officer. "What's your name?" She asked curiously.

"You know, Officer Hudson." He replied as if it was obvious.

"Your _first _name." Rachel clarified. "Your badge says _F. Hudson_, so what does the 'F' stand for?"_  
_

The man looked down at her with an amused look on his face. "I'm not going to tell you that. As far as you're concerned, my name is Officer Hudson."

"Fine." Rachel said with a shrug. "I'll guess it." Rachel noted how Officer Hudson looked down at her and smiled with only one side of his lips. It was the most charming half-smile Rachel had ever seen. She looked down as she didn't want to get too attracted to him.

"Go ahead, you'll never guess it." He said, turning his smile into a confident grin.

"Is it Frank?" Rachel asked, looking up at him. She took his silence as a no. "Fredrick?" Still silent. "Francis?... Fred?... Flint?..." Rachel listed, all greeted by silence. "Floyd?..." Rachel began running out of ideas. "Fernando?"

The corner of the Officer's lips pulled up slightly into a small smile. Rachel grinned in accomplishment. "That's your name isn't it?" She asked.

The man looked down at her, a half amused, half embarrassed look on his face. "I can assure you, I'm not called Fernando." He told her.

"Of course you'd say that," Rachel said. "You don't want me to know your name."

The Officer shook his head, still looking amused. He watched as the last of the people left Rachel's apartment, before turning to face her. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, ma'am." He said cheekily, trying to get her riled up. He turned around to leave but felt Rachel grab his arm.

"Fernando," She said, convinced that was his name. "How about you come in for a drink before you leave?" She ran her hand up and down his arm flirtatiously. "Besides, I have a lot of alcohol that need to be drank, thanks to you."

"Listen, Ma'am." The man said turning to her. "As a police officer, my job is to protect people by preventing crime and ensuring that the law in maintained. Unfortunately, crime isn't going to stop just so that I can have a drink with you."

"No," Rachel admitted. "But you can tell the station that this party took longer to shut down than expected."

Fernando smiled slightly and began to back away. "Have a good nigh ma'am." He called to her, before turning around and walking away.

Rachel watched his tall body as he left. She stood outside her apartment until he was no longer in sight. It was officially her mission to get Officer Fernando Hudson on a date.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, but let me know what you think. Should I continue this? Or should I try another idea? Please leave me a review to let me know!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'd just like to start by thanking everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed my first chapter. I didn't expect so many reviews so it meant a lot!**

**Also, I just wanted to assure all of the people that left reviews saying they don't want a Fuinn relationship that there won't be. I've learnt my lesson now and I can promise no more of my Finchel fics will include any Fuinn relationship. However, I can't promise that Finn won't have a girlfriend here...**

**Anyway, thanks again and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Finn Hudson woke up when he felt someone stirring next to him. He rolled over, reaching out over the bed to wrap his arms around his girlfriend. Instead, his arm just fell onto the empty bed. Finn frowned and opened his sleepy eyes to see where she was.

He saw his girlfriend, Santana Lopez, sat on the far side of the bed. She was in her underwear, staring at her wardrobe for something to wear. Finn smiled at sat up, reaching across the bed to put his hand on her shoulder.

"Morning, honey." He said, climbing from under the duvet and making his way across the bed to her.

"Hey," Santana looked over her shoulder, accepting a peck on the lips from Finn.

"Why are you getting up so early? Isn't today your day off?" Finn asked with a small frown.

"Well, my hair is a disaster so I'm going to the salon." Santana informed him. "They could only fit me in this early because I called on short notice." Santana grabbed a dress and stood up, preparing to put it on. "I was thinking we could go grab some lunch in that restaurant I love across town today." She suggested while dressing herself.

"I would love that,-"

"But..." Santana said, before Finn had the chance to.

"I have to work today." Finn said apologetically, watching Santana look at herself in the mirror.

Santana frowned and turned around, a frustrated look on her face. "Finn, we take every Sunday and Monday off together so we can spend time together, why are you working?"

"Jefferson asked me to do his shift today because his dog needs to be put down." Finn replied, scared that angry Santana would surface soon. He knew what Santana was capable of when she was angry, and he never wanted it to be directed at him.

"And why am I only hearing about this now?" She asked, her slight anger showing in her voice.

"I was going to tell you when I got back last night, but you were sleeping and I didn't want to wake you." Finn defended himself, sitting up properly on the bed and hanging his legs over the side.

"I stayed awake until midnight waiting for you last night, but yet again you came home at stupid o'clock in the morning." Santana grabbed a brush and angrily ran it through her hair.

"Working late is a part of my job, San, I couldn't help it." Finn informed her. Though he didn't need to; Santana was a police officer too, she just refused to work longer than absolutely necessary.

She was always on Finn's back for how long he worked. He should do five days of 8 hour shifts, with two days off. But Finn often worked over-time when he was asked. Though Santana found this incredibly annoying and constantly complained about it, Finn was determined for a promotion so did it anyway.

"I really wish you would stop being so nice and think about us once in a while." Santana said, shaking her head in disbelief. "If someone asks me to do a shift on my day off, I say no. I think you should do the same because I'm getting sick of-"

Santana stopped her rant when the her cell phone interrupted her. She looked at Finn and glared at him, her silent way of telling him she was annoyed at him. She then walked over to her phone and looked at the screen. The number was unknown, but Santana answered it anyway.

"Hello?" Santana said as a question. "Yes, this is Santana... Who?..." Santana gasped in surprise, a smile coming onto her face. "Of course I remember you!..."

Finn watched his girlfriend talk excitedly for a while. He thought about how happy she looked, and how it was rare that she looked that happy talking to him. It was obvious that Finn and Santana had their problems, in fact, he often found himself why they were together in the first place. But then he'd remember that he loved her, and she loved him, so they stuck by each other. Hell, they lived together so they must love each other.

Finn looked at the clock and noticed he would soon be late for work. So with a sigh, he stretched, grabbed a towel, and went to take a shower.

* * *

When Finn left the bedroom, he was clean, in his uniform, and ready for work. He could still hear Santana on the phone, twenty minutes later. He listened to her side of the conversation as he joined her at the kitchen table.

"I would love that... Of course I know Beiste's Bar... Sounds great... 5 o'clock... I'll be there... Bye." Santana hung up the phone, still looking surprised by who had called her.

"Who was that?" Finn asked curiously. Taking a slice of toast from the plate that Santana had left.

"My college room-mate." Santana informed him, smiling at him. She must have forgotten about her anger towards him about having to work. "She said she hasn't seen me in six years and would love to catch up."

"She just called out of the blue?" Finn said with a frown. It seemed strange to call suddenly after six years.

Santana nodded and stood up. "I thought it was weird too," She admitted. "But apparently she was going through some pictures from college a few days ago and started wondering what I'd been up to."

"That's nice." Finn said, not thinking too much into the idea.

"I'm meeting her tonight and 5."

"I heard." Finn stood up and grabbed his keys, preparing to leave for work. "Have fun."

"I will." Santana replied, a small smile on her face. "I remember she used to be so confident that she'd be a Broadway star," She mused out loud. "But I haven't heard about her since, so I doubt she made it."

"You're hardly a Broadway expert, San." Finn chuckled at his girlfriend. He grabbed some shoes and began putting them on his feet.

"How much of a star would she be if no one's heard of her?" Santana said with narrowed eyes.

"Good point," Finn said, walking toward her. "I'll see you tonight." He kissed Santana on the cheek and headed for the door.

"If you work late again I swear to God I'll murder you and make it look like an accident!"

* * *

Rachel grinned as she put her phone down. Step one of her plan was already complete. As she had said the previous night: she was going to get Officer Fernando on a date. But first, she had to know where to find him. If that meant asking an old friend that she hadn't spoken to for six years, then so be it.

Rachel walked into the kitchen and began making herself another cup of coffee. She had been up late last night with the party, and was up early this morning trying to track down an old friend. Coffee was what she was relying on to stay awake all day, seeing as it was still morning and she was already exhausted.

"Rachel, is that you?" She heard a sleepy voice say from the door of the kitchen.

"Yeah, Britt, it's me." She confirmed, pouring the coffee into a cup. "Want some coffee?"

"No thanks." Brittany, her room-mate, said. Brittany sat at the kitchen table and watched Rachel finish preparing her drink. "Why are you up so early?"

"I couldn't sleep." Rachel replied, sitting across from Brittany. "I couldn't get that police officer out of my head all night.

"You barely know him," Brittany reminded her, wondering how Rachel could think about him so much. "How can you like him so much?"

"He's one of the sexiest men I've ever met." Rachel replied. "I just have to see him again."

"You know nothing about him," Brittany said with a small laugh. "How are you planning on finding him?"

"I have a plan." Rachel said matter-of-factly. When Rachel wanted something, she made sure she got it. This was no exception. "I have an old friend called Santana, she was my room-mate in college, she's a policewoman. I'm meeting with her tonight and I'll ask her about Fernando."

"Why have I never heard of this Santana?" Brittany asked curiously.

"I haven't seen her in six years. That's what I've been doing all morning: tracking down her cell phone number."

"Rachel Berry, you amaze me."

Taking that as a compliment, Rachel grinned and took a huge sip of her coffee.

* * *

Rachel and Brittany walked into their local bar: Beiste's Bar. Rachel was ready to meet Santana here; but Brittany had a shift that night. Both Rachel and Brittany worked at the bar serving drinks etc. It was Rachel's night off, but not Brittany's.

Rachel glanced around the room for any sign of her friend. She spotted a raven-haired Latina standing by the bar, instantly recognizing her from college. Rachel smiled and made her way over to her. Santana hadn't changed much, but her hair was slightly shorter and she looked more mature.

Rachel tapped Santana's shoulder and moved into view. When Santana saw Rachel, recognition instantly flashed across her face. She smiled and stood up, wrapping her arms around the small brunette.

"Rachel, you haven't changed a bit." Santana told her, squeezing her slightly before letting go.

"Neither have you." Rachel said, looking her up and down. "Shall we sit down?" She asked.

Santana nodded and the pair walked and sat at a small table nearby. They were both happy to see each other, they had been room-mates and best friends in college after all. Only, Rachel had an ulterior motive for wanting to meet with Santana. But she didn't have to know that.

"I can't believe it's been six years." Rachel said once they were comfortable. It had seemed like yesterday that Rachel was the obsessive, overly-confident little girl that annoyed everyone. She had changed so much since then.

"I know, it's insane how time flies." Santana replied, making herself comfortable.

At that moment, Brittany came over to the table with a small notepad. She had a black apron tied around her waist that covered the front of her black skirt. That was the 'uniform' that the waitresses had to wear. Rachel herself wore one most days of the week. Brittany grinned, being her usual cheerful self, and pulled a pen out of the front of her apron.

"Can I get you any drinks?" She asked in a perfectly chipper voice.

Santana looked at the blonde, who was tall and slim. She had long legs and a perfect figure. Her blonde hair was tied back into a simple ponytail, with two pieces of hair hanging down to frame her face. Her smile was infectious, and Santana found herself smiling as she answered.

"Just a water, please."

Brittany nodded and noted down the order, turning to Rachel to find out hers.

"You're not going to drink?" Rachel said to Santana in surprise.

"No, I don't drink much any more." Santana replied with a shrug.

"You _have _changed since college," Rachel said quietly, looking to Brittany instead. "I'll have a Margarita."

"Wow, Rachel Berry drinking a Margarita," Santana commented in surprise. "You've also changed."

Rachel laughed slightly and looked down. Brittany turned to Santana, amused by her comment. "You must be Santana." She said.

"That's me." Santana confirmed.

"I'm Brittany." Brittany offered her hand for Santana to shake. "Rachel's room-mate."

Santana took Brittany's hand and smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too." Brittany flashed her a grin and withdrew her hand. "I'll go get your drinks." Brittany said, before walking away.

Rachel watched as Santana's eyes lingered on Brittany as she left; only returning to Rachel when Brittany was behind the bar. Smiling politely, Rachel began a conversation topic.

"So, are you seeing anyone at the moment?"

"I am, actually." Santana confirmed. A small, forced smile on her lips.

"Really?" Rachel said, in a excited voice, like they were back in college. "Who's the lucky... person?"

Santana frowned when Rachel hesitated at the end of her question. _That was weird. _She thought. "His name's Finn." She said.

"Would I know him?" Rachel asked, trying to think if she knew anyone called Finn. She didn't.

"Probably not. I work with him."

Brittany came over to the table carrying a tray with their drinks. She put down the tray and handed Santana her drink and then Rachel's. The girls thanks her and then Brittany left to get back to work.

"So, tell me about this Finn." Rachel said, sipping her drink.

* * *

A little while later, and Rachel was finishing off yet another drink. She hadn't had so many drinks that she was drunk, but she was getting tipsy. Despite Rachel's attempts at getting her to drink an alcoholic beverage, Santana was still sipping water.

"Seriously, it's so cool that you're a _police_woman." Rachel said, for which Santana counted as the third time.

"I know. But what about you, what do you do?" Santana asked, moving the conversation off the same topic they had been on for the past half hour.

"I work here." Rachel said quietly, as if ashamed she didn't have a big job like her old friend.

Santana raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Oh..." She said. She would _never _expect her college room-mate, Rachel Berry, to work in a bar. Rachel Berry was talented and ambitious and would stop at nothing to get what she wanted (and felt she deserved).

Rachel must have seen Santana's surprise as she added, "But it's cool here. It's a cool job. I mean, you protect people, but I supply them with drinks."

"I guess you're right..." Santana said uncomfortably.

"But enough about my job," Rachel said, causing Santana to sigh, knowing she would be asked about her job again. "What about your job?"

"What about it?" Santana asked tiredly, not enjoying the company of tipsy Rachel.

"Hey, actually, I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"So, last night I was having this party and it got shut down by the police." Rachel said, finally feeling brave enough to bring up the topic.

"Really?" Santana said. This definitely wasn't the Rachel she used to know.

"Yeah." Rachel nodded. "The officer was super cute, and I was wondering if you could tell me his name. Possibly his phone number."

"Is that why you invited me here tonight? So I could set you up with a colleague?" Santana asked in disbelief. _This _is the Rachel she knew.

"What? No." Rachel shook her head quickly. "This is just a bonus."

"This is typical Rachel Berry. You can't do anything nice without having an ulterior motive."

"That's not true," Rachel brushed off. "But do you know a Fernando?"

Santana was about to argue about how selfish Rachel was, but she paused and frowned when she heard the name. "Fernando? I've never met a Fernando."

"Sure you have." Rachel insisted. "He's tall, really attractive, and his name's Fernando."

"There's no one called Fernando where I work." Santana said, an amused look at Rachel's disappointment. "Do you have a last name?"

Rachel thought back to the night before. The alcohol had made her memory hazy and she was suddenly having difficulty remembering his last name. "Fernando..." Rachel paused. No surname came to mind.

"You didn't even get a last name." Santana said in amused disbelief. "Again, typical Rachel. Doesn't care about anyone but herself."

"That's not true!"

"You've changed so much since college, but I guess one thing will never change: How selfish and self-centred you are."

Rachel frowned and stood up from her chair. "And your bitter personality won't change!" Rachel retorted, the alcohol taking over her words. "If that's how you feel about me, I'm just going to leave."

Santana watched as Rachel turned around and stormed towards the door. She stumbled a little half-way before recuperating and carrying on her dramatic exit. Santana stayed seated for a couple of minutes, before standing up and leaving as well.

When Santana walked out of the bar, she saw Rachel down the road getting into her car. Santana frowned, knowing that Rachel had had a few drinks and wasn't safe to drive. Santana jogged down the road until she had reached Rachel's car.

"Rachel, what are you doing?" Santana asked, standing in front of Rachel's door so she couldn't shut it.

"What does it look like?" Rachel said bitterly. "I'm going home, where I'm not called selfish _or _self-centred."

"Rachel, you can't drive, you've been drinking." Santana instructed professionally.

"You can't tell me what to do." Rachel said, pushing Santana out of the way and slamming her car door.

"Actually I can, I'm a police officer." Santana shouted, knocking on the window to try and get Rachel to open it.

"You're not on duty!" Rachel shouted back.

"The police are never off duty!"

Rachel made eye-contact with Santana while she started the car's engine. She acted as if she was testing Santana, which she was. Santana narrowed her eyes at Rachel through the window, knocking on the window again.

"Rachel, don't." She said sternly.

Without looking away from Santana, Rachel put her hands on the steering wheel and mischievously pressed on the accelerator. Because Rachel didn't have her eyes on the road, she didn't see the car parked in front of her. Rachel lurched forward, straight into the rear end of the other car.

Santana smirked and took the few steps forward to where Rachel's car had stopped. She knocked on the window again, but this time Rachel rolled it down and looked at Santana. If looks could kill, Santana would be long gone by now.

Santana reached into her back pocket and pulled out something small, black and wallet-like. She opened it and revealed a police badge, which she held up so Rachel could see.

With a smug smirk, Santana said to Rachel, "Rachel Berry, you're under arrest for driving under the influence.

* * *

**A/N: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Leave me a review to let me know if you enjoyed it, and how I can improve.**


	3. Chapter 3

Finn counted down the minutes until his shift was over, and he could go home to his 'loving' girlfriend. At the moment, it was 20 minutes. He was trying to avoid being given another case to work on by his boss, as that was usually how he got forced into staying late. If he was late tonight, Santana would kill him. So, he was sitting behind his desk alone, with his feet up, and a coffee in hand.

When he heard footsteps from down the hall, walking towards him, Finn immediately began to look busy. He put his feet onto the floor and began to type on the computer, despite the fact he was looking at a blank screen. He breathed a sigh of relief when Santana came around the corner.

"Babe, what are you doing here?" He asked, standing up to give her a kiss.

"I just dropped off someone that I arrested." Santana answered casually, sitting on the edge of Finn's desk.

"I thought you were meeting your old college friend?" Finn said as he sat back down.

"That's who I arrested." Santana shrugged, playing with some objects on the desk.

"What? Why?" Finn asked with amusement.

"DUI." Santana answered. "I just wanted to stop by and say hello."

"Well if you stick around, my shift ends in 20 minutes. We can go home together."

"I would, but I need to stop by the store on my way home." Santana said, standing up from the desk. "I'll meet you at home."

Finn kissed his girlfriend and watched as she walked away. He span around on his chair, looking at the other people in the room. There were around 10 desks in the room, but only 4 people were currently here. The rest were working on cases or out patrolling. As Finn stared off into the distance, his mind elsewhere, he didn't notice his boss walk in.

"Hudson!" He yelled, snapping Finn from his reverie.

"Yes, Sir?" Finn replied, embarrassed at being caught daydreaming.

"I have some new paperwork here that needs to be filled out. Now." Mr. Denton threw a small stack of papers in front of Finn and began to walk away.

"Wait, Sir, can't you give this to someone else?" Finn asked, scared his boss would yell at him. "It's just, my shift's over in," Finn checked his watch before answering. "16 minutes."

His boss sighed and folded his arms across his chest. "It won't take long, Finn. It's just a DUI, the girl's in cell 4 downstairs." With that, his boss walked away from him.

Finn sighed and looked at the paper on his desk. The name of the girl was Rachel Berry. He knew he had heard that name before, he just couldn't think where...

Of course. The night before, Finn had shut down Rachel Berry's party. She thought he was called Fernando and wanted him to go in for drinks. Finn caught himself smiling at the name as he remembered her. He cleared his throat and put on a straight face, rising from his desk and walking down the hall.

* * *

Rachel stared at the ceiling of the cell. She didn't belong here. If she could tell her high school self that in 9 years time she would have been arrested for driving under the influence, she would have laughed in her own face. But yet here she was, sat in a cell with a man who was currently talking to his hand. Sitting across from her was a woman who had piercings wherever a hole could be pierced. And next to her was a man with a bruised eye and a red substance on his t-shirt that Rachel could only assume was blood.

Rachel heard footsteps outside the cell and prayed it was her turn to be taken out. Being around these people made her extremely uncomfortable, and she was only here for driving a metre after having a couple of drinks.

Rachel watched the hall eagerly, waiting for someone to appear. When the person did appear, Rachel couldn't have been happier. Fernando appeared, carrying a clipboard and wearing a smirk on his face.

"Can Ms. Rachel Berry come with me, please?" He said as the guard unlocked the cell door. Rachel grinned and stood up, rushing over to him.

"Thank goodness you're here, Fernando." She said. She wanted to hug him but her hands were cuffed together, (which she found completely unnecessary).

"My name isn't Fernando." He informed her, as he began walking down the hall.

She followed him closely, smiling at the ground as she walked behind him. She didn't know why he wouldn't admit his name, but it didn't matter. She set out the day wanting to see Fernando again, and here he was. If you asked her, this was mission accomplished... just in an unexpected way.

Finn took them to an empty room that contained only a desk and computer. He sat behind the desk, instructing Rachel to sit in front of it. Rachel did as she was told, watching Finn concentrate on the paperwork in front of him.

Finn furrowed his brow as he concentrated, which Rachel found completely endearing. She looked at him closely, trying to memorise everything about him. Including the dimples he got in his cheeks whenever he smiled at something. He was so adorable in everything he did, and Rachel couldn't take her eyes off him.

"Could you fill in this page for me, please?" Finn looked up at Rachel, catching her staring at him.

Rachel looked down, trying to play it off, but nodded her head. Finn placed the paper and a pen in front of her, waiting for her to fill out her details. Rachel looked from Finn, to the pen, then back to Finn again. She quirked an eyebrow at him, noticing how confused he looked from her behaviour.

"Do you expect me to write with these?" Rachel asked, lifting her arms onto the table to reveal the hand-cuffs around her wrists.

Finn smirked at her and stood up. "Right." He said, walking around to Rachel's side of the desk.

He grabbed some keys off his desk, finding the one for the cuffs. He then signalled to Rachel to lift up her hands. He took one of Rachel's hands in his to make it easier to unlock her. The softness of her hands surprised him; and the warmth she gave off was addictive. Finn made eye contact with her as he unlocked the cuffs, pulling them from her wrists.

"Was there really any need for those?" Rachel asked, rubbing her wrists.

"Well, it appears that you're a criminal, so yes." Finn said cockily, moving around to his side of the desk.

Rachel intrigued Finn for some reason. She was a mystery that Finn wanted to solve. She looked like a nice girl, a girl who wouldn't break the law or misbehave. However, she dressed in a slightly more mature way, wearing tight jeans and short tops. Also, she clearly acted more rebellious, which made Finn more curious. Finn wanted to figure out what type of person she was: a good girl, or a bad girl.

"I'd hardly call myself a criminal." Rachel told him, while she picked up the pen.

"Really? Because a criminal is a person who has committed a crime. Last I checked, driving under the influence is a crime."

Rachel stopped writing the sentence that she was writing and looked up at Fernando. "I wouldn't really say I was under the influence," She said, feeling the fact she was arrested was a little unnecessary. "Do I seem drunk to you?"

Finn looked at her with narrow eyes, as if contemplating his opinion. "It's hard for me to say," He admitted. "I've only ever seen you after you've had a couple of drinks."

It was Rachel's turn to narrow her eyes, this time because Finn was treating her like a delinquent. "_Anyway,_ I didn't really _drive _anywhere either."

"Hm," Finn frowned, leaning back in his chair. "Did you put your foot on the accelerator peddle?" He asked, trying to prove Rachel wrong.

Rachel narrowed her eyes even more as she reluctantly said, "Yes."

"And did the car actually accelerate?"

Rachel narrowed her eyes even more, so much so that it looked like her eyes were closed. "Yes."

"Then you were driving." Finn stated, matter-of-factly.

"Only about 2 metres." Rachel informed him, thinking this made her 'crime' justified.

"According to the report filed against you, that was only because you crashed into the car in front of you."

"It was more of a tap." Rachel said quietly.

Deciding she didn't want to listen to more of Fernando's accusatory statements, she lifted the pen and continued writing her own version of events. Who did Fernando even think he was? He didn't know her, yet he was treating her like she was a bad person. Like she was constantly breaking the law. This wasn't the case though.

"You know," Finn said, trying to make conversation to break the silence. "A DUI is quite a serious offence."

Rachel glanced up at him but returned her gaze to the paper. She didn't even want to give him the satisfaction of acting like he was above her.

"You could get a fine, a license suspension, sometimes even time in jail." Finn continued.

Rachel looked up at him properly. Why was he acting like this? Trying to make her feel guilty for what she did. Trying to make her feel like she had committed a terrible crime. It really wasn't like that, and she could feel herself getting annoyed. However, some of the anger was cause by herself, because although he was acting the way he was, Rachel still felt attracted to him. Why?

"I had a couple of drinks and then drove a couple of metres. Nothing bad happened. I doubt my punishment will be that severe." Rachel told him, finishing off the last bit of paper work.

"That's not for you to decide." Finn reminded her, a cocky smile. "You endangered the life of pedestrians."

"They only pedestrian around was my college 'friend' Santana, and she's the reason I'm here in the first place."

"Wait," Finn leaned forward, suddenly interested in what Rachel had just said. "Santana Lopez brought you here?"

Rachel frowned, wondering why that was important. Santana had told Rachel that she didn't know a Fernando, yet Fernando clearly knew Santana. Had Santana lied to her? If so, why?

"Yes, I was her room-mate in college." Rachel informed him.

Finn leant back again and began to laugh a husky laugh. Dimples appeared on his cheeks which Rachel found adorable. "What's so funny?" Rachel asked, annoyed at how amusing he found her arrest.

"That's my girlfriend." Finn informed her as his laughter died down to a mere chuckle.

Rachel's frown grew when she heard the news. Fernando had a girlfriend? She had only met him yesterday, yet she was so disappointed to hear he was unavailable. Especially when the girl he was taken by was Santana Lopez. Then, Rachel remembered something.

"You can't be Santana's boyfriend," She said, shaking her head at him. "Santana told me that her boyfriend was called F-" Rachel paused mid-sentence. She remembered the night before. Officer F. Hudson. "The F is for Finn isn't it?" She said quietly.

Finn nodded his head, an amused smile on his face. "I told you I wasn't called Fernando."

Rachel's cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment. She couldn't believe she had been calling him Fernando when his name was really Finn. Come to think of it, he did look like a Finn. And he really didn't look like Fernando.

Rachel looked down at the sheet she was filling in, writing in the last box to mask her embarrassment. Finn didn't seem to judge her for getting his name wrong, yet she was still embarrassed.

"I wouldn't have put you and Santana together." Rachel said when she was finished. She handed the sheets back to Finn so he could check over them.

"Well, we're completely different people," Finn admitted with a shrug. "But we make it work."

Rachel frowned, thinking back to when she was with Santana earlier in the evening. She had totally caught Santana checking out Brittany. Was that really 'making it work'? Rachel forced herself so keep her mouth shut, not wanting to stir up trouble.

"I would put you with a girl a little more... polite, friendly, less of a bitch." Rachel added, while Finn scanned through the papers in front of him.

"Really?" Finn asked, quirking an eye-brow at her. "You hardly know me."

"I know you're incredibly handsome." Rachel said, leaning forward and resting her elbows of the desk.

Finn looked up at Rachel, surprised by her forwardness. "Rach, are you..." Finn stopped himself and looked back down. It wouldn't be appropriate for him to ask her if she was flirting with him. "Never mind."

"Rach?" Rachel echoed, a small smile touching her lips. "We're already on a nickname basis?"

"_Ms. Berry_," Finn made a point of correcting himself as he neatened the sheets into a pile. "If you don't mind, I'll need to rush this along a little. My shift ends any moment now."

"Maybe we can go and grab a drink then?" Rachel asked, eager to spend more time with the handsome police officer.

"I think you've done enough drinking for one night," Finn joked, a smirk on his face. Rachel glared at him, though not in a mean way. "Besides, as you already know, I've got a girlfriend."

"But Finn, you can't deny the fact we have a certain chemistry between us." Rachel said flirtatiously, leaning towards him. "This kind of chemistry is rare, and your just going to toss that away?"

"How do you know we have chemistry if we don't know each other?"

"Are you telling me you don't feel it?"

Finn looked down. Of course he felt it. For some unknown reason, he was attracted to her like a moth to a flame. Truth be told, if they had met at a different time and at a different place, (When he _didn't_ have a girlfriend and when he _wasn't _arresting her), he would have probably asked her out. But Rachel seemed like a bit of a bad girl, and that wasn't Finn's usual type. So, he would never admit the chemistry he felt to Rachel.

Finn sighed and stood up, picking up Rachel's paperwork. "I'll just go file these for you."

Finn walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Rachel watched, a sort of smirk on her face. He felt it.

* * *

**A/N: I feel like I need to tell you all that this story gets more exciting soon. Next chapter, I promise. Anyway, thank you all for reading. Reviews are always appreciated.**


	4. Chapter 4

"So, you had to sort out Berry's paperwork?" Santana asked Finn as she poured them both a coffee.

It was the morning after Rachel had been arrested, and Finn was telling Santana about his own meeting with her college room-mate. Santana seemed amused to hear that he'd met her, and he realised that neither Rachel nor Santana spoke of each other fondly.

"Yeah," Finn nodded, accepting the drink being handed to him. "She seems nice." He said with a shrug.

"Yeah, she _seems _that way," Santana smiled, taking a seat at the table.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Finn asked with a frown.

Santana took a breath as if she was about to launch into a huge story, but then she sighed and decided against it. "Rachel Berry is self-centred, selfish and manipulative," Santana explained. "She thinks she's God's gift to the world, when in reality, she's nothing more than an annoying hobbit."

Finn smiled slightly, trying to hide his disappointment at hearing how horrible Rachel was. Or how horrible Santana _thought _Rachel was. "Why do you hate her so much?" He asked, trying not to act too interested in her. Though he really just wanted to find out more about her.

"It was back in college," Santana said slowly, almost hating to relive the memory. "And Rachel and I had a crush on the same guy, his name was Robin Wilson. Long story short, Rachel spread around this rumour that I was a lesbian, which obviously isn't true, so that I would be out of the competition." Santana sighed, looking into her coffee. "Robin never spoke to me again, probably because all of his football friends made jokes that he had pushed me into lesbianism."

"Rachel really did that?" Finn asked, frowning at how spiteful the act seemed.

"Yep." Santana nodded but shrugged. "Anyway, I thought maybe she would have changed and she wouldn't be as selfish. I was wrong." Finn tried to hide his disappointment. Rachel had seemed like an OK person; now he was hearing all this about her. "Can you believe that Rachel only contacted me because she had a crush on a policeman that she'd just met." Santana continued. "She hoped I could give her his number or something. Talk about having an ulterior motive."

Finn looked up with interest the minute he heard 'crush on a policeman.' He smiled nonchalantly and tried to hide the fact that he was eager to ask more questions. It seemed to work, seeing as Santana just sipped her coffee and looked at her nails. After Finn felt it had been a reasonable amount of time, he began to ask his questions.

"She has a crush on a policeman? Who?" He said. Santana looked up at him, a strange look on her face. She was frowning slightly, probably wondering why he wanted to know. "I... Well..." Finn hesitated. "Maybe I know him."

Santana gave him one last frown before looking at the newspaper lying in front of her. "I don't know, some guy called Fernando. I told her there was no Fernando at our station but she..."_  
_

Santana carried on explaining her story to Finn, but that was were he zoned out. Rachel had actually gone through all the trouble of finding Santana _just _to find him. It flattered Finn that someone would go through all that trouble for him. Especially when he had just met that person. It was a shame that he had met Rachel under the circumstances which they had; under normal circumstances, they could have been friends... just friends.

By the time Finn came out of his reverie, Santana had finished talking and was looking at him expectantly. "Everything OK?" He asked, not knowing what it was he had missed."

Santana glared at him, seemingly annoyed for a reason unknown to Finn. "Forget it," She snapped, her voice bitter. "I'll go myself."

Finn watched in stunned silence as Santana stood up from her chair. She quickly grabbed her bag and keys before storming out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her.

* * *

**-One week later**

Rachel entered her local supermarket, walking right towards the alcohol area. Seeing as her party a little over a week ago had been a disaster, she decided to hold a poker night to make it up to her friends. Alcohol was a necessity, so she decided to get plenty. She loaded her shopping cart with bottles of all shapes and sizes. Some were pink and fruity, others brown and bitter. It didn't matter to Rachel, as long as people would get drunk off the stuff.

When she decided she had enough, she strolled around the shop, looking for anything else she might like. As she was walking, she saw a familiar tall man disappear into a nearby aisle. Frowning, Rachel contemplated whether or not she should go over. Ultimately, she decided against it. She had been 'seeing' Finn everywhere recently. Every tall, dark haired man seemed to resemble the attractive police officer, Finn Hudson. It was never actually Finn though, so Rachel decided this was just another one of those times.

Rachel turned around and walked towards the cereal aisle, deciding to get some Lucky Charms or something. As she walked, she thought about Finn and how much she wanted to see him. It was strange, even to her, how much she liked Finn. She just felt a connection with him that she wanted to explore more. Shame he was dating Santana Lopez. He was too good of a guy to cheat on Santana, even Rachel knew that.

Rachel walked down the aisle, staring up at the Lucky Charms. They just had to be on the top shelf, didn't they? Rachel looked around, wanting to ask someone to help her. However, there was no one around; no one that looked friendly anyway. Staring up at the cereal that was way out of her reach, she sighed. This was one of the many reasons she hated being so short.

She moved her shopping cart out of the way and got ready to jump for them. This would either go well, or horribly wrong. As Rachel prepared to jump, she felt an arm come over her shoulder and effortlessly grab the box she was aiming for. With a frown, she whizzed around to see who had stolen her cereal.

When she saw who it was, she was at a loss of words. Standing in front of her was Finn Hudson, holding out the box for her to take.

"It looked like you needed to hand." Finn said with a smile, obviously not as speechless as Rachel.

Rachel cleared her throat and too the box from Finn. "I did. Thank you." She smiled, brushing some hair from her face.

Finn pulled a half-smile down at her, allowing them to stand in silence for a moment. Rachel looked at him in his casual clothing. For once he wasn't wearing his police uniform. He was wearing some dark blue jeans with a white polo-shirt. From the sleeves, Rachel could see his strong looking muscles at the top of his arms. He looked just as good out of uniform as he did in it.

Finn began to walk away, signalling for Rachel to follow him. "You know," He said as they walked. "I feel like I'm seeing you everywhere recently."

"I know." Rachel smiled to herself. She wasn't complaining about that.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were following me." Finn joked, pausing in front of some other cereal.

"You wish." Rachel laughed, knowing that it wasn't actually above her, but Finn didn't need to know that. "I think this is a sign."

"A sign for what?" Finn frowned, looking down at Rachel.

"Well, we keep seeing each other, so maybe the universe wants to see us together... at dinner, tomorrow at 8?" Rachel casually slipped in the question.

Finn seemed amused as he looked back at his choice of cereal. "I thought I already told you, I have a girlfriend."

"It's just dinner," Rachel shrugged. "Nothing serious."

"But I don't think my girlfriend would appreciate me dating other girls."

"We wouldn't be dating..." Rachel said. She would try anything to let Finn take her out just once. Just to get it out of her system. "We'd just be going on a date."

"I'm sorry, Rach." Finn said apologetically. She had no idea how sorry he really was. He wanted to take her out and get to know her better, but he knew Santana would tear him apart if he did. Besides, dating Rachel would be cheating on Santana; and Finn was anything but a cheater.

"You called me Rach again." Rachel said quietly, smiling to herself at how easily it came out of his mouth.

Finn thought back to what he had said, realising she was right. "It's an abbreviation." Finn said defensively.

"I know what it is, Finn."

"Then you know that it doesn't mean the universe is telling us to date."

"I never said that it did." Rachel reminded him, frowning at how defensive he was. "But it does mean that it's easy for us to converse with each other. We talk effortlessly and get on remarkably."

"You know who else I talk to effortlessly and get on with remarkably?" Finn asked. "Santana, my _girlfriend_."

Rachel sighed, knowing she would never get Finn on a date if he was with Santana. She loved how loyal he was though, even though Santana had told her the other evening that their relationship wasn't perfect. That's when Rachel got an idea, smiling to herself that she remembered it.

"I really didn't want to tell you this," Rachel said, following Finn as he crossed the aisle. "But I just can't keep it in any longer."

Finn frowned in confusion, eyeing some Fruit Loops on the shelf. "What is it?"

"Santana, your girlfriend, is a lesbian."

Finn paused, his hand in mid-air, half way to the Fruit Loops. He looked down at Rachel in surprise, remembering what Santana had told him a few days ago. It was true. Rachel really did use this as a way to get guys.

Finn narrowed his eyes at Rachel. "Santana was right." He said thoughtfully.

Rachel frowned, clearly confused. She had no idea what he was talking about. "About what?"

"You are unbelievable. How could you make up something so ridiculous just to date someone?"

Rachel frowned again. Making this up? Why would he think that? "I'm not making this up!" Rachel told him in frustration. "It's true. The other day when we went out for drinks she was checking out my room-mate. _Her _name his Brittany."

"I'm her _boy_friend, Rachel." Finn told her, grabbing the Fruit Loops and throwing it in his basket. "If she was a lesbian, I think I'd know about it."

"She's clearly still in the closet!"

"Just stop, Rachel." Finn told her, annoyed that Rachel was everything Santana had said. "You don't know me, you know nothing about me. Leave me and Santana alone."

"I'm trying to do you a favour and save you from future heartbreak," Rachel said, still not knowing why Finn was so annoyed. "I'd appreciate some gratitude."

"You think you're doing this for me?" Finn asked in disbelief. "You did this for you, Rachel! You really are just as selfish as Santana said."

"Selfish?" Rachel said in surprise. "You don't know me well enough to make calls about whether or not I'm selfish."

"No, I don't." Finn admitted. "But Santana does." Finn began to back away from Rachel. "Leave us alone, Rachel!"

Rachel watched, still in shock, as Finn walked away from her. Leaving her in the middle of the aisle alone.

* * *

Rachel opened the door to her apartment, still annoyed with Finn. She was now in a bad mood, thinking she's ruined her relationship with yet another boy. Not that her and Finn had even been in a relationship. But they could have been, if she didn't screw it up.

She put her grocery bag on the kitchen counter, putting her handbag next to it. She noticed how quiet the apartment seemed, at a time she knew Brittany should be home. Frowning, she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. Brittany wasn't there, or anywhere to be seen, but Rachel could see an unfamiliar jacket on the arm of the couch.

"Britt?" Rachel called out, walking towards her bedroom. "Are you home?"

As Rachel approached the closed door, she saw Brittany's t-shirt on the floor. Rachel picked it up and held it in her hand as she opened her room-mate's door, quietly in case she was taking a nap. When the door was open slightly, Rachel poked her head around the door and peered into the dark room.

Lying on the bed was Brittany, sleeping as Rachel expected. What Rachel didn't expect was that she wasn't alone. Sleeping, tangled in Brittany's arms, was a naked Santana Lopez.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews, you're all amazing! I know people hate waiting for Finchel to happen, but don't worry, we get more Finchel soon. If you like, leave me a review. Let me know if you enjoyed this chapter and what you'd like to happen in the next!**


	5. Chapter 5

Rachel sat on the edge of her couch, her eyes wide, staring at the coffee table in front of her. She was in a state of shock due to what she had just seen. Santana was in the next room, naked, with her room-mate. Santana Lopez, girlfriend of Finn Hudson, sleeping with a girl.

Rachel didn't know how she should feel. Guilty that Santana had cheated on Finn. Relieved because this showed that she _wasn't _lying about Santana being a lesbian. Angry that Finn hadn't believed her when she was telling the truth. Or just indifferent because this really had nothing to do with her. She felt a mixture of all those emotions, though she didn't know which she would act on.

She looked down at the t-shirt that she was holding in her hands. She knew it was Brittany's because it was pink with a picture of a fat cat on it. It was one of her favourite lazy-day t-shirts. Rachel pictured the removal of the t-shirt, being tossed to the side and forgotten about in a passionate rush to the bedroom. This caused Rachel to put the clothing down, suddenly feeling weird about holding it.

She couldn't believe what she had seen. She couldn't believe she was right about Santana. She couldn't believe Finn had thought she was making things up to destroy his relationship. She felt smug that she had been right and Finn had been wrong about her. She wanted nothing more than to show Finn that she had been right. Show him that he had been wrong about her and that she wasn't selfish. That her suspicions of Santana were justified. But how?

Rachel looked at the door of Brittany's bedroom as she heard someone stirring. After a couple of seconds, it went quiet again. They must have just been rolling over or something. As Rachel turned back to the coffee table, her eyes caught sight of a black jacket that had been thrown over the back of the couch. She had never seen it before, which was strange because she knew all of the clothes Brittany owned. After all, they had bee living together for years now. The jacket must belong to Santana.

That's when Rachel got an idea. Reaching into one of the pockets, Rachel grabbed a phone from the jacket. She unlocked the screen, seeing a picture of Santana and Finn as the background. It was definitely Santana's phone. She clicked onto the contacts of the phone and scrolled to Finn's name.

* * *

Finn put the last of his groceries into the fridge, staring at the clock as he did. Santana should be home by now. In fact, she should have been home half an hour ago. Finn had no idea where she could be by now. He didn't realise how long it took for a girl to get her nails done.

Finn grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and made his way to the living room. Should he be worried about Santana? He knew she could take care of herself, hell she was a policewoman, she _had _to take care of herself, but what if something had happened to her? She could have gotten into an accident or something.

Finn turned on the television and flicked absent-mindedly through the channels. His mind was somewhere else, focusing on two girls. Half the time, he was wondering where Santana was and worrying that something had happened to her. The other half, thinking about the wonder that was Rachel Berry. He felt bad about what he had said to her. It may have been a bit harsh, but he had been angry. A girl he barely knew was trying to destroy his relationship by lying about his girlfriend being a lesbian, a technique she had used since college. It was ridiculous of her.

Finn turned off the TV and threw his head back on the couch. It was like his head just wouldn't shut up with thoughts of Rachel, no matter how wrong he knew it was. It was a feeling that Finn hadn't experienced before, so he didn't know what to think of it.

The buzzing of his phone pulled him from his thoughts, making him sit up again. When he grabbed his phone, he saw he had a message from an unknown number. With curiosity flooding through him, he opened the message. It read:

_Finn,_

_I just wanted to apologise for what happened earlier. It was wrong of me to _'**_make up_**' _the fact that Santana was a lesbian. I hope you forgive me._

_-Rachel._

Finn frowned at his screen. How did Rachel his number? And if she was apologising, why did she use quotation marks on the words 'make up'? He noticed that the message had an attachment with it. He opened it, hoping this would answer his questions.

Finn almost jumped out of his seat when he saw the picture that Rachel had sent him. It was a picture of Santana in a bed, her bare shoulders poking out of the sheets as a sign she was naked; or at least topless. But she wasn't alone. Her head was resting on the chest of someone else. The chest of a blonde girl that Finn had never seen before. They both appeared to be sleeping, and cuddling.

Finn's phone buzzed again with another message from the same number. He opened it immediately.

_By the way, that's my room-mate. **Her **name is Brittany. You should meet her some time._

_-Rachel._

This time, Finn did jump out of his seat. Anger rushed through his veins. He didn't know whether he was angry at Rachel, or Santana. Probably a bit of both. But Finn needed to do something right now. Grabbing his keys, Finn rushed to the door. He had some confronting to do.

* * *

It didn't take long for Finn to reach Rachel's apartment. He remembered where she lived from their first meeting. The doorman also remembered Finn, granting the police officer entrance without question. As Finn walked towards Rachel's door, he began to hear some muffled voices from inside.

_"Berry, I'm not kidding around here, where the hell is my tank top?!" _Finn instantly recognised Santana's voice. It had yelled at him like that many times.

_"I've already told you, I don't know." _A quiet voice replied. Finn knew it was Rachel; and she sounded almost... afraid?

_"You listen to me you little hobbit," _Finn heard Santana say. _"You know I'm from a place called Lima Heights Adjacent. Lima Heights makes the crime rate of New York look like Disneyland. If you so much as breathe a word of this to Finn, I will go all Lime Heights on your sorry ass."_

Finn reached for the door handle, not bothering to knock. Partly because he was so annoyed at how Santana planned on keeping this from him; partly because he feared Rachel might not make it out alive. After opening the door, Finn barged into the apartment, ending the threats that Santana was giving.

Finn tried to absorb the scene in front of him. Santana was standing in the middle of the room, wearing only jeans and a bra. She was staring at Finn with her mouth hanging open in shock.

He looked at Rachel who was near the wall; she had her arms folded across her body protectively. Her expression was a mixture of fear from Santana's threats, and relief that Finn was here.

And finally, there was the blonde girl that had been with Santana in the picture that Finn had received. She was looking at Finn questioningly, probably because she didn't know who Finn was. She was wearing only a robe which had been put on hastily.

"Finn..." Santana said quietly, breaking the tense silence. "This isn't what it looks like,"

"Really?" Finn said bitterly, taking another step into the room. "Because I think this is _exactly _what it looks like."

Santana looked down, she now looked ashamed of herself. There was another moment of awkward silence before Santana turned to face Rachel. Her eyes narrowed angrily as she walked towards the smaller brunette.

"Rachel, what the hell did you do?" She said in frustration.

Finn stepped in front of Santana, protecting Rachel from Santana's wrath. "Don't blame Rachel for this." He said sternly. "This is _your _fault. You've been lying to me this whole time."

Santana looked down again. She opened her mouth to say something, though no words formed. She didn't know how she could defend herself now; there was no way she could back out of the situation.

Breaking the silence, Brittany walked towards Santana triumphantly. "Here. I found your tank top." She smiled, handing it to Santana. "It was just behind the couch."

Finn looked at the blonde, surprised by how relaxed she looked. She didn't look guilty or ashamed, but just... normal. Finn figured she had no idea what was actually going on. She didn't know Finn and probably didn't even know Santana had a boyfriend.

"Finn, I'm so sorry." Santana whispered, tears filling her eyes. "I made a mistake, and I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry." Finn said quietly, not looking Santana in the eye. "Sorry that this whole relationship must have some big joke to you."

Santana shook her head, the tears beginning to spill out of her eyes. "No it wasn't, Finn, I swear."

Finn looked down, a hurt look on his face. "I want you to move out." He said.

Santana looked up at him in surprise. "No." She said, shaking her head. She was clearly hurt by this. "Please, Finn, don't do this."

"It's not up for debate." He said, still avoiding eye-contact. "I'd go get packing if I were you."

Santana looked down, hurt and upset. She was surprised by Finn's reaction, though she didn't blame him. In high school, he had dated a girl who got pregnant. She made him believe that the baby was his, when it was actually his best friend's. She knew how much this must have hurt Finn, which is why she pulled her tank top over her head, prepared to leave.

She looked at Rachel who looked somewhat satisfied, yet guilty at the same time. Giving her a nod goodbye, Santana turned to Brittany. "I guess I'll see you around." She said quietly.

With one last look at Finn, Santana slowly began to leave the apartment. The room was left in a deadly silence, so you could hear a pin drop like it was an explosion. Santana closed the door behind her, the quiet click sounding like a gunshot piercing the silence. The three that were left remained in silence for a few more moments, staring at the closed door.

"Well, isn't it tense in here?" Brittany said, causing Rachel and Finn to turn to here in surprise. "I'm going to go shower, I'll see you guys later."

Finn and Rachel watched Brittany leave the room, leaving just the two of them. Finn took a moment to compose himself after his breakup, before turning to Rachel. She looked at him with sadness in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry." Rachel said earnestly, feeling guilty that she had caused this pain in Finn.

"Don't be." Finn told her, speaking quietly. "It wasn't your fault."

"But it was." Rachel told him, looking down at the floor. "It's my fault that you're in pain, anyway. If I hadn't told you then none of this would have happened."

"Exactly." Finn smiled slightly, as much as he could given the situation. "I would still be dating a lesbian." Finn sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Thank you."

"For what?" Rachel asked, thinking she had no reason to be thanked.

"For warning me about Santana. For sending me that picture. For everything."

Rachel smiled slightly. "Any time." She shrugged.

"And, I owe you an apology." Finn said, taking a step towards Rachel.

"No you don't." She assured him.

"Yes I do." He insisted. "I was horrible to you in the store earlier. I had no right to call you selfish when I don't even know you. You tried to warn me about Santana and I was just a jerk. I'm sorry, Rachel."

"It's fine, Finn. Really." Rachel assured him, smiling.

"Yeah, well," Finn pulled a half smile. "I owe you one."

Rachel looked at him with a smirk. "You owe me one?" She echoed, happy to have heard the words.

"Yeah."

"Good." Rachel smiled with delight, making Finn frown slightly, wondering what she had planned. "Then you can take me on a date."

"Excuse me?" Finn said, surprised by her forwardness. Though he didn't know why he was even surprised any more, Rachel had always been forward.

"You said you owe me one. _I _say you own me a date."

"Rachel..." Finn began, about to tell her that he didn't think them going on a date would be a good idea.

"Finn." Rachel said before he had the chance. She seemed to know what he was going to say, and wouldn't allow him to say it. "You said-"

"I know what I said." Finn interrupted. "But I'm not sure us going on a date would be a good idea."

"And why not?" Rachel asked with a frown. "What have you got to lose?"

Finn contemplated his decisions for a moment, leaving Rachel looking at him expectantly. In the end, he sighed and shook his head, not believing how only Rachel could make him do this. "Fine. I'll pick you up tomorrow at 7."

* * *

**A/N: I'm sorry if this chapter was a little disappointing. I was just having difficulty writing it for some reason. Also, I'm sorry but I'm going to be going back to school in a couple of days, which means slower updates. But I'll try and get the date chapter out as soon as possible. **

**Anyway, thank you all for reading, and don't be afraid to leave me a review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I am so sorry that this chapter took so long! School had been keeping me way too busy, and when I'm not working on school work I'm usually not in the mood to write. I promise you won't have to wait that long again, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! **

**P.S. I skipped lunch to write this chapter, so I really hope you like it.**

* * *

Finn could practically hear his heart pounding as he walked down the hall towards the door to Rachel's apartment. He didn't know why he felt this way. He was never usually this nervous for a first date with a girl, but Rachel was different. Finn still didn't know much about Rachel and didn't know what to expect from their date. It would either go incredibly well, or terribly wrong. Finn just didn't know which to expect.

When Finn reached the door, he took a deep breath and prepared himself before knocking loudly. He heard some voices inside the apartment, some shuffling around, and then the door opened.

Finn could not prepare himself for what he saw. Or should I say _who _he saw. Standing in front of him, looking as shocked as he felt, was his ex-girlfriend, Santana Lopez. Finn felt his heart begin to beat faster and harder (if that was possible) as he began to panic. Things hadn't exactly ended well between them, so an awkward tension fell amongst them the minute that the door was opened.

"Finn..." Santana breathed, the shock in her voice evident. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Finn retorted, a hint of bitterness in his voice. He couldn't help it. She had humiliated him by cheating on him, and he hadn't quite forgiven her in the short time since it happened.

"Well," Santana began, her own eyes narrowing at Finn in response to his hostility. "Seeing as you _kicked me out, _I had no place to go, so..."

"So, you shacked up with the girl that you cheated on me with." Finn finished for her.

He couldn't believe that Santana was here. He couldn't believe that she would actually stay with the girl who broke up their relationship. The girl who was still practically a _stranger_ to Santana. It was unbelievable. But then again, Santana had always been unbelievable.

"Why are you here, Finn?" Santana demanded, this time with more impatience.

"To pick up Rachel." Finn replied, trying hard to ignore the awkward yet hostile atmosphere in the air.

"Why would you pick up Rachel?" Santana said in confusion, before a look of shocked realisation settled onto her face. "You're taking her on a date, aren't you?"

"I might be." Finn said stubbornly.

"We broke up yesterday and you're already dating?" Santana raised her voice in frustration. Angry Santana scared Finn, yet he tried hard not to let it show.

Yet again, he couldn't believe what Santana had said. She was getting annoyed at him because he was going on a date, meanwhile she was currently living with the girl that she may or may not be in a relationship with. This whole situation was confusing and uncomfortable, but Finn would not back down.

"Oh, well isn't that just the kettle calling the pot black... or something." Finn said, confusing himself by how incorrect the phrase sounded.

"It's 'the pot calling the kettle black', genius." Santana informed him, rolling her eyes at his stupidity. "And as I just said, I had no place to go."

Finn sighed, already tired of arguing with Santana. He was already stressed about the date with Rachel, he didn't need Santana on his back as well.

"Will you just get Rachel for me?" Finn said quietly.

Santana turned around, not moving from her spot in the doorway. "Rachel!" She yelled. "Your boyfriend's here!"

_"I'll be out in a second!" _Rachel's quiet and muffled voice came from somewhere inside the apartment.

Santana turned back to Finn, folding her arms across her chest and leaning against the door frame. "I must admit, I didn't really think Rachel would be your type."

"Well, I guess there's a lot of things we didn't know about each other." Finn replied. He, of course, referring to the fact that Santana was actually interested in women.

"But, really, Rachel Berry?" Santana said we a quirk of her eyebrow. "She's a huge party-girl, that's not exactly the kind of person that you are Finn."

"She's nice." Finn said with a shrug.

"Right now, there's ten of her friends getting drunk in the living room and playing poker. She organised this. This is the type of things that Rachel gets up to on her weekends. What do _you_ do, Finn? When was the last time _you_ had a game of poker?

Finn narrowed his eyes at Santana, knowing she was trying to ruin his date with Rachel, yet still knowing she had a point: they were incredibly different. Rachel did seem quite rebellious and a lot like a party-girl. As a police officer, Finn was the opposite of that. He liked quiet evenings in watching a film, not out all night in clubs. But Finn was determined to not let Santana get to him, or ruin his date. He plastered a fake smile onto his face and remained casual.

"Don't worry about me, Santana," He said in a sickeningly sweet tone. "I'll be just fine."

Before Santana could reply, a door from behind her opened and Rachel appeared. Finn had to try hard to make his mouth not drop open at the sight of her. She was wearing a short-sleeved black dress that fell to her mid-thigh. Her long, tanned legs peaked out on full-show. She had black heels on that made her look taller than usual, though she was still smaller than Finn, and was only a tiny bit taller Santana. Her brown hair cascaded below her shoulders in waves, and her make-up was surprisingly simple.

"Hey, Finn." Rachel smiled, grabbing a small bag from a nearby table.

Finn cleared his throat, feeling speechless. "Uh... Hi. You look..." Finn trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence. She looked great, obviously, though Finn didn't know if he liked it or not. Finn liked natural beauty, and Rachel looked anything but natural. She was trying to hard to look sexy and showing too much skin. Nothing was left to the imagination.

Almost as if Santana was reading Finn's thoughts, she spoke, "Rachel, I love that dress!" Finn glanced at Santana, noticing the insincerity dripping off the words.

"Thank you!" Rachel grinned, obviously not noticing it, or choosing to ignore it.

"But, don't you think it's a little... slutty for a first date."

Rachel's smile faltered at Santana's comment and she looked down at herself self-consciously. "I don't think so." Rachel said, her confidence clearly shaken slightly. "When it comes to dresses, the shorter the better, right?"

"Right." Santana confirmed, a false smile on her face,

"Anyway," Rachel said, stepping towards Finn. "Shall we?"

* * *

Finn opened up his menu, eyeing Rachel as he did so. It surprised him how she dressed so provocatively, yet talked like a lovely, innocent girl. Occasionally, she would say something that set off alarm bells in Finn's head, such as the term 'dine and dash', though she quickly returned to her innocence by stopping to stroke a small dog.

What Santana had said about Rachel being a party-girl had made Finn watch her closely, looking for any sign that Rachel was defiant and too wild for Finn. As much as he hated himself for being so prejudice, he couldn't help it. He was now sure that this date would be a disaster.

As Rachel was looking at her menu, Finn noticed something small on her wrist. His eyes immediately widened in surprise, before narrowing while he tried to get a closer look. Rachel spotted the strange look Finn was giving her and lowered her menu slightly so that she could see him properly. She frowned, confused at Finn's behaviour.

"Is everything OK?" Rachel asked eventually. Finn's gaze was making her feel uncomfortable and insecure.

"Uh.. Yeah, yes, of course." Finn cleared his throat, embarrassed at having been caught. "I was just wondering what that was on your wrist."

Rachel frowned, obviously unsure what he was talking about, then looked down and followed his gaze. She smiled when she saw what he was talking about, relief washing over her.

"Oh, this?" Rachel pointed to the small yellow mark on the inside of her wrist. "It's a tattoo." She held her arm out towards Finn she he could get a better look.

Finn looked at the small marking. It was simply a small yellow/gold star, with no other decoration on or around it. It actually looked nice. Finn liked it.

"A star?" He said, leaning back on his chair again.

"Yeah, it's kind of a metaphor." Rachel shrugged casually, seeming bored by the subject. "Or, at least, it used to be. I got it years ago when I'd just left college." Rachel looked at it for herself, almost as if she had forgotten it was even there, then looked up with a look of perfect indifference. "Do you have any tattoos?"

Finn shook his head. "No," He informed her. "They've never really appealed to me. There's nothing that I'd want permanently marked onto my body." Finn noticed that Rachel seemed slightly disappointed, though she didn't say anything about it. "So," Finn continued. "Is that your only tattoo?" Finn hoped that it was. Though he didn't dislike the star, he would really prefer a girl who wasn't covered with the small marks.

"No, I have one more." Rachel said, her face lighting up at the chance to tell Finn.

"Really? What is that one?"

"I would show you, though it's in a bit of a... private place that you'll have to earn access to." Rachel smiled at him seductively, causing Finn's eyes to widen in shock.

"Oh." Finn said, sitting up straighter, suddenly uncomfortable. That was definitely a little too forward for Finn's liking. Suddenly, Rachel did seem wild and out-going, something Finn was not. He tried to remain calm, though his mind was telling him to run as far from Rachel as he could. She seemed like trouble.

"I think you should get a tattoo." Rachel said, changing the subject from her own tattoo in her intimate area. "Who knows, maybe I'll be able to talk you into it."

"I doubt it." Finn said quietly, looking down at his menu.

"Never say never, Finn." Rachel said resting her arm on the table. "You seem quite uptight, you need to loosen up and live a little."

Finn looked up in surprise. Uptight? He wasn't uptight. He was trying to remain calm about the whole situation, but he was out of his comfort zone. Being a policeman, he had seen some of the 'party-animals' of the city, and he didn't like what he saw. They were irresponsible and out of control. If Rachel was one of them, he would be disappointed. He had felt an unexplainable connection to her since they met, yet every time Rachel said something about tattoos, parties or 'dine and dashing' he felt that connection simmering out.

Before Finn could comment on what Rachel had said, a waitress came over with a small notebook. "So, what can I get you two?"

* * *

Finn walked alongside Rachel on a dark street, lit only by the odd lamp-post. Rachel's heels prevented her from walking too fast, so Finn was walking in a nice stroll. The evening had actually turned out OK. There were good moments and bad moments. Finn found out that Rachel liked some of the same songs as him, and watched some of the same shows. They had been discussing Game of Thrones for at least half an hour during their dinner.

At one point, Finn had made Rachel laugh so hard that he water came out of her nose. Rachel had been embarrassed, but Finn thought it was funny and made him like her more. However, there were also parts of Rachel that Finn didn't like. She definitely liked to party, most of her storied involved alcohol, and a man who was covered in tattoos and smelled of weed came over in the middle of their meal. Turns out, he was one of Rachel's closest friends. That made Finn uncomfortable.

Despite this, Finn was trying to keep an open mind and enjoy himself. And now, walking down the peaceful street, Finn was enjoying himself.

He heard Rachel let out a shaky breath and glanced at her to see was was wrong. She was clutching at her arms and shivering, clearly cold in her tiny dress. Finn removed his jacket, causing Rachel to look at him like he was crazy.

"You're freezing." Finn said, draping his jacket over Rachel's shoulders.

Rachel smiled, grabbing at the jacket with one hand. With the other hand, Rachel took hold of Finn's hand and held onto it. Finn smiled and instead of pulling away, he entwined their fingers and squeezed Rachel's hand slightly. He glanced at Rachel in time to see Rachel smiling at the floor. He could look at that smile all day.

"So, what now?" Finn asked, carrying on their walk down the street.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't want the evening to be over, so do you want to go grab a drink or something?" Finn was scared to ask, thinking maybe Rachel would find him too boring and say no; but instead she smiled and nodded.

"That sounds nice." She said, looking happy. "I know this great place, it's called Utopia."

Finn's eyes widened at the name. He knew that place. He had lost count of how many times he had been sent over there to break up fights, arrest people, hold drug raids. Hearing that Rachel thought it was a 'great place' set off the warning bells again, making Finn rethink how this evening was going after all.

"You really like that place?" Finn said hesitantly, not wanting to upset Rachel.

"Yeah, it's great." Rachel said enthusiastically. "I've been going there for months now, my friend Puck introduced me to it."

"Puck?" Finn repeated, thinking the name was a little silly.

"Well, his name's Noah, but everyone calls him Puck."

"Why would they call him-" Finn stopped himself from finishing the sentence. He suddenly realised something that, again, made Finn uncomfortable. "That wouldn't happen to be _Noah Puckerman, _would it?"

"Yes!" Rachel said, turning to him, surprised that he knew her friend. "You know him?"

"Well, kind of." Finn said, remembering where he'd heard the name. "I've arrested him a couple of times. Put up quite a bit of resistance. Had to call for back-up." Disapproval was dripping off Finn's words, but he was beyond caring now.

"That sounds like Noah." Rachel said through a small giggle. "Anyway, how does Utopia sound?"

Finn sighed and thought for a moment. Chances were, there would be some of his colleagues in the area, just like every other night. He couldn't be seen by the people he worked with going into one of the worst clubs in town. There was just no way he could go there.

"I don't think it sounds too good." Finn said quietly.

Rachel stopped walking, frowning when she heard his words. Finn also stopped and faced Rachel, still holding her hand. "Why does it not sound good?" Rachel asked, not bothering to hide her confusion.

"Rachel, do you know how many drug raids have been held at that place? How many times it's had to be closed? How many fights take place there?" Finn rubbed his face with his free hand and sighed. "I can't go there."

"It's just people having a good time." Rachel said with a shrug, obviously not understanding why Finn wouldn't want to go there.

"It's out of control. Every. Single. Night."

"So?"

"The police will probably be there. _Right now."_

"We're just getting drinks, Finn, not breaking the law." Rachel was frowning at him, not happy at his refusal to go.

"Those police officers there are my _colleagues, _Rachel." Finn reminded her.

Rachel narrowed her eyes, her frown deepening. A look that somehow managed to look shocked, hurt and angry all at the same time came onto her face. "Let me get this straight," Rachel said. "You don't want to go because you're _embarrassed _to be seen with me by your colleagues."

"I'm not embarrassed to be seen with you," Finn said, worried that he would hurt her feeling, if he hadn't already. "I'm embarrassed to be seen _there._"

"You know what, I'm sick of this." Rachel said, letting go of Finn's hand and shaking her head.

"Sick of what?" Finn said with confusion.

"You!" Rachel told him, looking down. "You keep acting like I'm a wild, out-of-control part girl that you disapprove of."

"That's not true."

"Is it not?" Rachel said, shocked that Finn could actually say that. "Every time I mention my friends, where I go on the weekends, or anything like that, you look at me like..."

"Like what?" Finn asked when Rachel seemed unable to finish.

"Like you're better than I am or something." Rachel said quietly. "And I'm sick of it. I wanted to go on a date with you because I thought that you were a nice, sweet guy, but obviously I was wrong."

Rachel stepped away from Finn, removing the jacket that he had given her and dropping it on the floor in front of her. "Sorry that I wasted your time." She said, backing away from him. "It won't happen again."

Without waiting for a response, Rachel turned around and stormed away from Finn, leaving him on the dark street alone.

* * *

**A/N: Please don't hate me! I have a plan, don't worry. Leave me a review to let me know what you think, and maybe what you think will happen next.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Your reviews really do mean the world to me, so thank you so much! I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Rachel woke up at mid-afternoon the next day. As soon as she was eased into consciousness, her head felt like it was about to explode. She brought a hand up to grab her head, hoping that it would in some way dull the pain. It didn't. Rachel let out a soft moan, squeezing her eyes shut and rolling over.

Rachel slowly opened her eyes, the brightness only making her head feel worse. She was now regretting drinking so much last night. But how could she not? Her date with Finn, a date that she had had high hopes for, had been a complete bust. He had made her feel awful, acting like he was better than her just because she liked to party once in a while. She wasn't out of control or a bad member or society. She did nothing wrong, and Finn was completely out of order.

Rachel slowly sat up, wincing as she did. She needed coffee and aspirin as soon as possible. She got out of bed and grabbed a robe from her wardrobe. Wrapping it around herself, she left her bedroom and walked towards the kitchen.

Before she made it to the kitchen, she heard Brittany talking to someone. She assumed it was their new house-guest, Santana, though she could only hear Brittany's side of the conversation. Curiosity growing inside her, she opened the door to the kitchen and poked her head inside.

Brittany was talking on the phone to someone while she made some coffee. At the sound of the door opening, she turned around to see who was entering. Rachel thought that Brittany looked worried when she saw Rachel, her eyes widening with what Rachel thought was panic. Frowning, Rachel walked fully into the kitchen, worried that something bad may have happened.

"Yeah... Yeah... Yeah..." Brittany was saying, never moving her eyes off Rachel. "I got it... Don't worry..." Rachel took a seat at the kitchen table, watching Brittany watch her. "Who's known her longer?... Me. Exactly... Bye." Brittany put her phone down onto the counter and walked over to join Rachel at the table.

"Who was that?" Rachel asked curiously.

"No one." Brittany mumbled, never quite meeting Rachel's gaze. Rachel opened her mouth to question it further, but Brittany spoke before she had the chance. "No offence, Rachel, but you look like hell."

At the mention of how bad Rachel looked, she began to feel just as bad as she had when she woke up. Her headache suddenly felt worse and the lights felt brighter. Rachel looked down at the table, resting her head on her hand. "I have a hangover." She groaned.

"The date was that bad?" Brittany said, sympathy in her voice, mixed with a hint of... surprise?

Rachel's head snapped up as she looked as Brittany suspiciously. "How did you know the date went badly?"

Brittany's eyes widened slightly, though she tried to remain calm. "Well...Uh..." She panicked, making Rachel wonder what was really going on. "Why would you have such a bad hangover if it went well? I just assumed that it went horribly and then you drank the pain away."

Rachel looked at Brittany suspiciously for a moment longer before nodding. "Well, yes, it went badly." Rachel confirmed, putting her head back down on her hand. "But I don't want to talk about it right now."

Brittany nodded in understanding. "Let me get you some coffee."

"And aspirin!" Rachel added.

"And aspirin." Brittany confirmed with a cheerful giggle. "Anyway, you have work today, right?"

Rachel sighed, remembering that Brittany was right, she did have work that day. There was no way she could go into work feeling this bad. She didn't have the strength to serve obnoxious customers, or get hit on by drunk men. No way. She'd call in sick today.

"I'm not going." Rachel informed her room-mate. "I'll call in sick or something."

Brittany turned around with a grin on her face. "Perfect." She said, walking back to Rachel with a coffee in one hand and a box of aspirin in the other.

"Why's that perfect?" Rachel asked with a frown.

"Uh..." Brittany looked away and remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"Brittany, what's going on with you today?" Brittany was definitely acting strange. Even if she had always been... unique in certain ways, today was different.

"Nothing!" Brittany said immediately, a little too loudly for Rachel's liking. "I just need you to meet me somewhere today."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at Brittany, trying to understand why Brittany was acting this way. She was usually good at reading people, though there seemed to be no plausible explanation for this. She seemed quite jumpy and... almost like she was hiding something.

"Meet you where?" Rachel asked slowly, carefully.

"Bow bridge at Central Park." Brittany replied, still avoiding eye-contact.

"Why?"

Brittany looked at the watch on her wrist and then stood up. "I better get to work." She said, picking up her bag. "Just promise that you'll meet me at Bow Bridge tonight at 5?"

"Britt, why do you want me to meet you there?"

"I don't have time to explain." Brittany said, looking at her watch again. Rachel knew that she was trying to get away. Brittany's shift started in 25 minutes, and it only took her 10 minutes to get to work. "Just promise you'll meet me?"

Rachel hesitated, not knowing what was going on. But Brittany was her friend, and she could trust her. "Fine. I promise."

* * *

As promised, at 5pm that evening, Rachel was standing on Bow Bridge, watching the people in boats on the water below. She looked around for the fifth time. Brittany was still nowhere to be seen. Frowning, Rachel took out her phone and decided to text Brittany saying,

**Britt, I'm here. Where are you and what's going on?**

**-Rach.**

After hitting send, Rachel turned back to the water. She tried to understand why Brittany had been acting so strangely earlier. Was it something to do with why she had been on the phone? Rachel remembered that she still didn't know who Brittany had been talking to, and that worried her. Brittany never kept things from her, but it seemed like she was today. Why else would she have seemed so nervous?

Interrupting her thoughts, Rachel's phone vibrated with a message. She pulled it from her pocket and opened it.

_**I'm almost there. Stop worrying.**_

_**-Britt.**_

She still hadn't told Rachel what was going on. And that message was extremely vague. Rachel considered leaving and telling Brittany that she didn't like surprises, that she didn't like that fact that she was obviously keeping something from her. But as Brittany had said: she was almost here. She may as well stay and find out what was going on. Besides, she couldn't just stand Brittany up either.

Rachel's thoughts were interrupted again, this time by a pat on the shoulder. With a sigh of relief, Rachel whizzed around, dying to find out why Brittany had asked to meet her here.

But it wasn't Brittany who had tapped her. It was Finn Hudson. Holding a bunch of flowers and a small basket. He smiled at her sheepishly, almost like he was scared of her reaction. Rachel didn't know whether to be happy or angry at seeing him. She chose the latter.

"Finn, what are you doing here?" She said, folding her arms across her chest.

"I'm here to meet you." Finn replied, holding the flowers out towards her. "These are for you."

"Finn, I'm here to meet Brittany, not you. She should be here any moment, so if you'll excuse me." Rachel turned back around, ignoring the hurt look on Finn's face. She hoped Brittany would arrive soon, waiting for her had just become a whole lot more awkward.

"Brittany's not coming, Rachel." Finn said from behind her. His voice had a hint of amusement behind it.

"How would you know?" Rachel said bitterly, surprised that Finn would even say that.

"Because she never was." Finn replied simply, causing Rachel to frown and turn around. "You're actually here to meet me."

Rachel was confused. She didn't know what was going on, but she intended to find out. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I called Brittany this morning and asked her if she could get you here. I need to speak to you."

"You don't even know Brittany's number." Rachel stated matter-of-factly, folding her arms stubbornly across her chest.

"I'm a cop, I have my ways." Finn said with a casual shrug. He held the flowers out to her again, waiting for her to take them.

Rachel looked at them, though made no move to take them. "What makes you think that I want to talk to you?"

"Listen, Rachel, I owe you an apology for last night. Please let me make it up to you?" Finn sounded like he really did want to make it up to her, though Rachel really didn't know Finn well enough to trust him entirely.

"Forget it, Finn. We went on a date that ended badly. It's no big deal." Rachel was still reluctant to speak with Finn. What made him think that he could just show up and make everything OK?

"Please, Rachel. Just give me 10 minutes?" Finn pleaded.

Rachel contemplated this for a moment. She narrowed her eyes at Finn, trying to figure out if he really did want to make things right. He had no reason to lie about it, right? And what did Rachel have to lose? If she left now, it would have just been a wasted trip. Rachel shrugged casually, "Fine." She said. "Ten minutes."

Finn tugged up the corner of his mouth into his charming half-smile. Rachel felt butterflies in her stomach just at the sight of him, but she forced herself to ignore them.

Finn held up the flowers even higher again. "Here." He said, urging her to take them.

Rachel sighed and grabbed them. "Thank you. They're beautiful."

"Yeah, well they reminded me of you." Finn smiled flirtatiously, causing Rachel to blush slightly.

"Wow, Officer Hudson, such a charmer." Rachel sounded like she was joking, but she wasn't. He really did charm her, sometimes without even trying.

Finn chuckled slightly and held out his hand for Rachel. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Rachel said cautiously, taking Finn's hand anyway.

"You'll see."

Finn guided her off the bridge and to an area of grass nearby. It had the perfect view of the bridge and the water, but also had some trees and flowers nearby. He took her to a spare space and opened the basket. He took out a blanket and laid it down on the grass. He indicated for Rachel to sit, which she did, then sat next to her. Rachel looked around, seeing other people going about their lives. Some people were just walking along, others jogging, some were sitting on the grass nearby to them, others on benches. It was a beautiful spot.

When Rachel turned back to Finn, he had taken some strawberries, grapes, and other small snacks from the basket and laid them out between them both. He took out two glasses and filled them both with some sparkling water.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I chose sparkling water," Finn said as he handed Rachel her glass. She wasn't actually, but she nodded anyway. "I was going to bring wine or champagne, then I remembered you might come here in a car."

"So?" Rachel asked, confused as to where he was going with this.

"You've not had a good record with drink-driving in the past, and I wouldn't want to have to arrest you." He said in a teasing voice.

Rachel narrowed her eyes at Finn and gave him a playful nudge. "Very funny."

Finn pulled his half-smile again and picked up a grape, dropping it into his mouth. "So, I want to apologise to you." He said, looking her in the eye so that she knew he was telling the truth. "It was wrong of me to judge you so harshly before really getting to know you. I think I just stereotyped you, which I know I shouldn't have."

Rachel smiled, appreciating the apology. "It's fine, Finn, don't worry. You're not the first, and you won't be the last."

"Something that you said last night really made me feel bad though." Finn continued, looking at his hands uncomfortably. "That I thought I was better than you. I want you to know that that's not true. I in no way feel like you're below me because you have a different lifestyle."

"Thank you." Rachel said quietly, smiling as she grabbed a strawberry. "I appreciate the apology."

Finn smiled at Rachel and looked down again. They remained in silence for a couple more moments. Finn thought about how surprisingly easy it had been to get Rachel to forgive him. But he really was sorry about everything that had happened, and maybe she could tell that he was. As Rachel grabbed some more food, Finn noticed her star tattoo again, spiking his curiosity.

"So, you never told me," Finn began, causing Rachel to look up at him. "What you're tattoo is a metaphor for."

"Huh?" Rachel frowned and popped a grape into her mouth.

"You're tattoo of a star on your wrist. You said it was a metaphor. A metaphor for what?"

Rachel smiled slightly, looking down at the star etched onto her wrist. She laughed slightly, almost as if she was embarrassed, before explaining. "Well, when I was in high school and college, I used to want to be on Broadway. I believed I was the next Barbra Streisand or something." She stopped to laugh again, making Finn smile. She really had had big dreams once. "Anyway," She continued. "At that time, gold stars were kinda my thing. A metaphor for me being a star."

Rachel seemed embarrassed to admit this, but Finn thought it was sweet. He smiled at her, happy to hear that she did used to dream of making it big, instead of just being a waitress all her life.

"Don't worry, I'm not that naive any more." Rachel assured him, causing Finn's smile to falter slightly.

"What? You don't want to be a star any more?" He asked.

"Of course! Who doesn't want to be a star?" Rachel said, smiling, but looking down at her hands. "I just know that I'm nothing special. I'm not destined to be the next Barbra Streisand or a Broadway star."

"You shouldn't have given up on your dream so quickly." Finn told her. He didn't think that it was his place to tell Rachel what she should or shouldn't have done when they didn't even know each other very well, but he couldn't help it, it just came out.

Rachel looked up, surprise on her face. Finn hoped she wouldn't be mad, and she wasn't. Just surprised. "You think I gave up easily?" She asked, in a somewhat accusatory, yet not mean, tone. "For the first three years after I left college, all I did was go to audition after audition." Rachel informed him. "All I was told was that I wasn't ready, or that I was too young, or that I wasn't pretty enough to be on the stage."

Finn looked down, feeling bad for Rachel. "I'm sorry." He mumbled.

"There's only so much rejection someone can take." Rachel continued. "So I realised that I wasn't good enough."

Finn wanted to argue back, tell her that that wasn't true, but he didn't know. He had never seen Rachel act or heard her sing. He couldn't tell her that she was talented because he just didn't know. He would be obvious that he wasn't being sincere. So he just didn't say anything.

"Anyway, what about you Officer Hudson?" Rachel said, moving the topic away from her.

"What about me?"

"Did you always want to be a police officer?"

"Actually, I didn't know what I wanted to be." Finn said with a nonchalant shrug. "Everyone around me had a plan, but I didn't. I didn't want people to know that I had nowhere to go in life, so I just went with it, ended up wherever life put me."

"Wow," Rachel said with a small giggle. "We could not be more different."

As Rachel said those words, Finn remembered the other reason that he had asked Rachel to meet him. With a deep breath, he decided to get it out of the way. His nerves would just grow if he didn't get it over with.

"About that," Finn began. "We really are very different people." He waited for Rachel to nod, which she did. "But I really like you, Rachel. And I'd really like to get to know you better... just as friends."

Rachel frowned, looking confused. "What?"

"I think that we're too different to date. I know that opposites attract, but we are complete polar opposites. Maybe it would be better if instead of dating, we're just friends."

Rachel stopped for a second to process what Finn had just said. She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't disappointed, but she knew that Finn was right. They were incredibly different, and maybe not in a good way. Rachel was just glad that they had only been on one date when this happened, it would have hurt a lot more if their relationship was more serious.

"You're right." Rachel said quietly. "Maybe we are better off being friends."

Finn smiled, relieved that Rachel was OK with it. "Good. I do like you, Rachel, I think you're a really good person. I'm glad we can be friends."

Rachel smiled. "Me too." She said, before looking down. She pulled out her phone and checked the time, then looked back up at Finn. "Your ten minutes are up." She informed him.

"How did I do?" He asked. "Did I make up for last night?"

"Well we're friends, aren't we?" Rachel said jokingly, letting out a small laugh.

Finn nodded and pulled his adorable half-smile. _Great. _Rachel thought to herself. _Friends._

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for any errors that were in here. I didn't proof-read. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave me a review if it's not too much trouble!**


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